Home / Ask The Experts / Mom comes in with her 19-month-old. She reports that her (the mother’s) sibling has a history of a severe reaction to pertussis vaccine in the mid-1990s. Now mom is reluctant to give her child pertussis vaccine although the child received Pediarix (DTaP-HepB-IPV, GSK) 2 months ago without incident. Should we be concerned about the mother’s family history of a severe reaction to pertussis vaccine?

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Mom comes in with her 19-month-old. She reports that her (the mother’s) sibling has a history of a severe reaction to pertussis vaccine in the mid-1990s. Now mom is reluctant to give her child pertussis vaccine although the child received Pediarix (DTaP-HepB-IPV, GSK) 2 months ago without incident. Should we be concerned about the mother’s family history of a severe reaction to pertussis vaccine?

A family history of a neurologic disorder or reaction to a pertussis-containing vaccine is not a contraindication to vaccination of this child. The child should receive additional DTaP doses as indicated in the catchup schedule.

Last reviewed: March 31, 2022

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This page was updated on April 24, 2022.